"Everything is energy. Be Light. Dance. Celebrate." ~ Kia

Kia Portafekas is a musician, composer, teacher, and author. She is a graduate of Queens College (Aaron Copland School of Music), Mannes Conservatory, and New York's famous Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art. A student of Harold Goltzer, bassoonist with the New York Philharmonic, she pursued her career as a bassoonist with the Bergen Philharmonic of New Jersey, Youth Symphony of New York, and the Westchester Philharmonic.

Kia traveled throughout Europe and the Far East, working musically with children. She conducted and recorded a singing recital with native children at the Children's Palace in Shanghai. She has taught at Quaker Ridge Elementary School in Scarsdale, New York. Her continued work with children and her method of teaching led her to the discovery that children need to be "heard" as well as seen. This realization inspired the creation of Kia's Kids.

Kia's Kids, created, directed, and co-produced by Kia, is a compilation cd of original songs composed by her students, ages seven to twelve years old. A documentary film has also been released for promotional purposes portraying Kia teaching her students how to compose their own original compositions through colors, movement, sounds, and improvisation. Each student performs their own song on piano and synthesizer. Kia's Kids realizes the natural abilities in children through improvisation and spontaneity. Her students performed and recorded their music on a video with actress Kathleen Turner for a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall. They have also performed at East Coast Art Theater, Lincoln Center, and other theaters in New York, as well as Westchester.

Kia has written Making Music With Your Child, co-authored with Karen E. Marlow. This was the first book to give parents and teachers, regardless of their musical backgrounds, successful techniques for teaching music composition to young children. The creative skills and self-expression which result bring countless benefits to the children and their teachers, in every area of their lives. Making Music With Your Child is published by MMB Music, Inc. and funded in part by a grant from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Kia has appeared on KTVK ("Arizona News"), KPHO ("Good Morning Arizona"), and KAZ-TV ("The Tonya Mock Show"). She directed and produced a "Kids for Kids" Benefit Concert at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, which featured her students performing their own compositions, along with the Phoenix Boys Choir and Sheryl Cooper's Destiny Dance International. Kia also directed and produced "Music In Motion" Benefit Concert at the Phoenix Herberger Theater, featuring Kia's Kids and other local performers and celebrity guest artists to help fund the Phoenix Conservatory of Music After School Arts Learning Programs. She has presented workshops at the Arizona Music Educators Conference, Home Educator's Curriculum Event, ASU Professional Development Workshops for Teachers-Partners in Education with JFK Center of the Arts, Kidspace Museum with the Pasadena Symphony in California, and the Southwest Naturopathic Medical Center in Arizona. Kia has been invited to speak at the National Music Educator's Conference. In 2002, she received 1st place in the "Making Tracks" - VH1 Music Teacher awards.

To schedule workshops and presentations, contact Kia at 602 789-9313 or email: info@MusicKia.com.